This Form of Birth Control Is as Popular as the Pill

A recent study by the CDC examined which forms of birth control are most popular among American women aged 15 to 44—and the results may surprise you.

As you can probably guess, the most popular form of contraception is the pill, with nearly 26 percent of women who use birth control opting for that method. But here's what's less expected: Female sterilization comes in at a very close second, with 25 percent of women saying they use it. It's way more popular than even condoms, which were used by 15 percent of women. Long-acting reversible contraception methods like IUDs and implants came in next, with nearly 12 percent of women using them. Male sterilization, rings and patches, and the "pull and pray" method rounded out the mix.

Sterilization was especially popular among the 35 to 44 crowd, making up 44 percent of contraceptive use. Even at this age, male sterilization was less popular, with only 17.9 contraceptive users saying their male partners were sterilized. For whatever reason, the method was also less common in cities.

Even though sterilization appears common, it's still not always accepted. Holly Brockwell, 30, recently made headlines for getting her tubes tied after she'd been denied the operation by doctor after doctor who warned her that she'd regret it one day.

Obviously, since sterilization is irreversible, it's important to be totally positive you don't want kids before getting it. But if you are, it has an almost perfect success rate: Only about one in 200 women who use it will ever get pregnant. Clearly, a lot of women are taking advantage of that—and they should have the right to, because whether or not they ever want kids is nobody business but theirs.